ACLU wants Ohio governor to halt executions

CLEVELAND -- A civil-rights organization is asking Ohio Gov. John Kasich to put an immediate halt to executions after a condemned inmate gasped and snorted last week as an untested drug was used to put him to death.

The ACLU of Ohio wrote Kasich Sunday urging him to use his executive authority ahead of five scheduled executions in 2014.

Death row inmate Dennis McGuire made loud snorting noises Thursday during the longest execution since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999. McGuire's adult children said it amounted to torture and his family says it's suing.

McGuire's attorney and an anti-death penalty group also urge a moratorium.

The 53-year-old McGuire was sentenced to die for raping and fatally stabbing a pregnant woman in 1989.